Charles Bruce fonds

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Title proper

Charles Bruce fonds

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  • Textual record

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Fonds

Reference code

MS-2-297

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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1870 - 1974 (Creation)

Physical description area

Physical description

142 cm of textual records

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Name of creator

(1906 - 1971)

Biographical history

Charles Tory Bruce was a highly regarded Canadian journalist, poet and writer born in Port Shoreham, Nova Scotia, on 11 May 1906. His parents, William Henry and Sarah Tory Bruce, both traced their ancestry to late-18th-century settlers.

Bruce graduated in 1927 from Mount Allison University in Sackville, NB, where he served as editor of the campus newspaper, Argosy. After graduation he privately published his first book of poetry, Wild Apples, and was hired as a journalist for the Halifax Chronicle. Within a year he moved to the Canadian Press news bureau and in 1929 married Agnes King, with whom he had four children; his son, Harry Bruce, also became a successful writer.

Shortly after his second book of poetry was published, Tomorrow’s Tide (1932), Bruce relocated to Toronto with the Canadian Press, where he worked as an editor, war correspondent and, ultimately, as general superintendent, until his retirement in 1963. His wartime experiences are believed to have deeply influenced his personal life and his writing. His poetry publications include Personal Note (1941), Grey Ship Moving (1945) and The Flowing Summer (1947). His poetry also appeared in magazines such as Harper's, Saturday Night, Canadian Poetry and The Saturday Evening Post.

Bruce’s The Mulgrave Road received the 1951 Governor General’s award for English-language poetry or drama, and in 1952 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters from his alma mater, Mount Allison University. He wrote one novel, The Channel Shore (1954), followed by a collection of linked short stories, The Township of Time (1959), both of which were republished in the 1980s.

Bruce’s final writing project was a history of the Southam family and their business empire, News and the Southams (1968). He died in 1971 in Toronto.

Custodial history

Records were donated to the Dalhousie University Archives in two accessions: an undated accession from Harry Bruce and in 1977 (66-77) by Agnes Bruce.

Scope and content

Fonds consists of the personal papers of Charles Bruce, including a scrapbook, notebooks, personal and professional correspondence, published and unpublished work, and research materials and notes.

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Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Arrangement

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

    Language and script note

    English

    Location of originals

    Availability of other formats

    Restrictions on access

    There are no access restrictions on these materials. All materials are open for research.

    Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

    Materials do not circulate and must be used in the Dalhousie University Archives and Special Collections Reading Room. Materials may be under copyright. Contact departmental staff for guidance on reproduction.

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    Sources

    Description comes from the Dalhousie University Archives Catalog. The complete, original description is available there.

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